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Here’s what you need to know
Boris Johnson took a gamble on Dominic Cummings. The British prime minister backed his key aide over his cross-country drive, saying Cummings had acted “reasonably and legally” despite breaching nationwide lockdown rules with his wife, who had coronavirus symptoms. A chorus of Conservative MPs have called for Cummings to resign.
The UK called an emergency cyber security review. It’s expected to push for a ban on any Huawei equipment from the country’s 5G networks, marking a reversal of January’s decision to allow the Chinese telecoms giant a limited presence in domestic phone networks. It comes after fresh US sanctions against Huawei.
Hong Kong protesters returned en masse… Thousands took to the streets yesterday to protest against China’s proposed national security legislation, which Beijing intends to enact by fiat on the city, effectively criminalizing dissent and taking full control of Hong Kong.
…and the world protested China’s move. A US national security advisor said yesterday that Beijing would likely face sanctions over the national security law. Separately, new legal advice from a prominent UK lawyer could pave the way to granting the right of abode to tens of thousands of Hong Kong citizens. Taiwan has also pledged “necessary assistance” to Hong Kongers.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial began. The Israeli prime minister, a week after he began a new term in office under a coalition government, is the first leader in office to face trial in the country’s history. He faces charges of fraud and bribery—accusations that he has dismissed as an “attempted coup.”
The US imposed a travel ban on Brazil. Foreigners travelling from Brazil will be denied entry into the US. Brazil now has the world’s second-highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases, behind the US. Russia is third, but the White House has not signalled plans to bar travel from the country.
What to watch for
- France relaxes its border restrictions. Starting today, migrant workers and family visitors from other European countries will be allowed entry. Madrid and Barcelona will join the rest of Spain in allowing dining outdoors.
- The NYSE trading floor reopens tomorrow. It’s been eight weeks, and it won’t look like it used to.
- HBO Max is here. On Wednesday, WarnerMedia jumps into the streaming pool, and will hope to stay afloat with back catalogs from Warner and HBO, as well as new content.
- Lighting candles like it’s 1981. NASA will send humans to space from its Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the first time since 2011 on Wednesday, using a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. Sign up for Space Business (it’s free!) and let Quartz’s Tim Fernholz keep you posted.
Charting Chinese unemployment
As charts go, it’s not much to look at. Politically, it contains multitudes. Quartz’s Mary Hui examines why China’s unemployment rate is “suspiciously stable.”
The official unemployment rate is core to the Communist party’s central narrative of economic prosperity in return for public acquiescence to authoritarian rule. The latest official jobs data released by China’s national bureau of statistics on May 15 put the unemployment rate in April at 6%, up slightly from 5.9% in March and a notch lower than the record 6.2% in February. Many experts think that’s grossly underestimated. Analysts at the Economist Intelligence Unit and Société Générale put the unemployment rate closer to 10%.
An unemployment rate as high as that would be an anathema to the party, not least because it undermines the regime’s very legitimacy. But in a pandemic, those numbers are getting harder to keep down, and it could very well affect how young graduates about to enter the workforce come to trust their government.
For Quartz Members
Don’t skip this intro. Adam Epstein’s state of play for this week’s field guide on Netflix’s next stage is the perfect primer for understanding today’s streaming entertainment wars—which are being waged on a markedly different battleground than they were at the start of 2020.
Netflix has made enormous gains in international markets, and thanks to the pandemic, audience numbers in its home country has shot up as well. It’s keeping an eye on Disney, whose own massively popular streaming service promotes franchises with a lot more opportunities for monetization off-screen.
With the possible exception of Stranger Things, Netflix’s big hits, which include Ozark, Russian Doll, House of Cards, and The Crown, don’t exactly lend themselves to plush toys or Halloween costumes. But its runaway success with The Witcher (whose monster-hunting main character is pictured above) has Netflix thinking more in terms of content that can be highly marketable across cultures.
✦ Get access to this field guide and a lot more when you become a Quartz member. (Try a seven-day free trial.) ✦
Surprising discoveries
Taiwan’s sign language interpreters are unlikely Covid-19 stars. They’ve been translating the government’s daily press conferences, drawing public attention to the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.
An alligator rumored to have belonged to Adolf Hitler died. The 84-year-old reptile, named Saturn, passed away in the Moscow Zoo.
A new pygmy seahorse has been discovered. “It’s like finding a kangaroo in Norway,” a researcher said.
US art museums can now sell their collections. With revenue fading away, struggling institutions have the go-ahead to dip into their archives.
When viruses spread, so do cults. The exploding popularity of the Vissarionites in Russia shows how a global disaster leaves people looking for guidance.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, elderly alligators, and Norwegian kangagroos to catch them to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our app on iOS or Android and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was written by Mary Hui and edited by Isabella Steger.